Electronic watch with a time display correcting device

ABSTRACT

An electronic watch with a time display correcting device for use in correcting a time display thereof. Winding means are provided for correcting the time display in advancing and delaying modes. Switches change over the switching modes to the time display advancing and delaying correction modes as desired. Circuitry is provided for producing or reducing a signal representative of a predetermined interval of time when the switching means is operated whereby the time display is advanced or delayed by the predetermined interval of time to effect the time display correction. This provides convenience for time correction with enhanced reliability of the watch.

Unite States Komaki 1 Oct. 15, 1974 1 1 ELECTRONIC WATCH WITH A TIME DISPLAY CORRECTING DEVICE [75] Inventor: Shojiro Komaki, Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Juiy 10, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 377,970

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 5 1973 Hiraga 58/855 3.7333410 5/1973 (iirard 58/855 Primary ExaminerEdith Simmons Jackmon Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. Burns; Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce L. Adams [57] ABSTRACT An electronic watch with a time display correcting device for use in correcting a time display thereof. Winding means are provided for correcting the time display in advancing and delaying modes. Switches change over the switching modes to the time display advancing and delaying correction modes as desired. Circuitry is provided for producing or reducing a signal representative of a predetermined interval of time when the switching means is operated whereby the time display is advanced or delayed by the predetermined interval of time to effect the time display correction. This provides convenience for time correction with enhanced reliability of the watch.

5 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PAIENIEIJUIII 1 51914 3,841 .081

I saw 1 or 5 TIME 7 DISPLAY PLUS CORRECTING GATE CONTROL CORRECTING MINUS CORRECTING 1 GATE MINUS CORRECTING CONTROL PLUS : DIVIDER PAIENTEUum 151974 SHEEI 3 0f 5 -0 PULSE RESETTING PULSE Is 1r PULSE 1S (D PULSE FIG. 5

h-J SEC 1S 1t PULSE RESETTING PULSE H C W W S H R O C S G OUT 6 OUT n FIG. 6

ELECTRONIC WATCII WITH A TIME DISPLAY CORRECTING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to electronic watches and more particularly to an electronic watch provided with a time display correcting device.

Conventional electronic watches have been provided witha time display correcting device, for example, a second hand regulating mechanism which permits the advancement of the hands to be stopped by pulling a winding crown with the possibility of correcting the time display to an accuracy in the order of a seconds unit. However, the known time correcting devices are not accurate in that it is necessary to stop the advancement of the hands for about one minute in order to correct the time delay to an accuracy of the order of a seconds unit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A principal object of the invention is to provide a watch free of the above-mentioned drawback and having circuitry to effect the correction of a time display thereof with ease without stopping the advancement of the hands.

An object of the invention is to provide a time display correcting device by which the time display of an electronic watch having a quartz oscillator can be easily corrected substantially to a standard time.

' Another object of the present invention is to provide a more effective time display correcting device provided with a switching mechanism capable of selectively changing correction modes, that is, a constant amount of time correcting mode and an any amount of time correcting mode with removal of the problems of a limited internal space in a watch case or restricted cover design.

Still another object of the present invention is to represent the correcting time in digital form in view of the increasing attraction of these watches.

Another object is to provide an electronic watch in which the amount to be corrected is represented as a digital unit, plus or minus one second, and in which it is possible to determine easily how many times the correcting operation is to be effected in comparison with a standard time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the electronic watch and time display correcting device in accordance with the present invention will be better understood as described in the following specification and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a switching mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view taken along section line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view taken along section line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a watch driving circuit and a time display correcting circuit according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a circuit for correcting the advancement of time according to the invention;

FIG. 6 is a time chart for illustrating the operation of the circuit in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a circuit for correcting the delay of time according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a time chart for illustrating the operation of the circuit in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front view of another embodiment of the present invention illustrating its applicability to a digital display electronic watch;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of driving circuits for the digital display of the electronic watch in FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram illustrating a time display correction controller according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a switching mechanism according to the present invention. A switching member 1, which corresponds to a winding stem in a mechanical watch movement is adapted and mounted to rotate and shift in an incremental manner. When the switching member 1 is rotated, a winding pinion 3 is also rotated by means of a clutch wheel 2 engaging with the switching member 1. The winding pinion 3 is provided integrally with'pawl wheels 4 and 5 made'of an insulating material and disposed so the teeth of the pawl wheels face each other and are engageable. A first contact spring 6 has its one end fixed and has another end inserted between theteeth of the pawl wheel 4. A second contact spring 7 has its one end fixed and another end inserted between the teeth of the pawl wheel 5-. Stopper pins 10 and 11 come into respective contact with the spring contacts 6 and 7 when the pawl wheel 5 is selectively rotated in a right or left direction.

Therefore, two kinds of switches S and S are established between contact spring 6 and the contact pin 10, and between the contact spring 7 and the contact pin 11. The switching operation of the switches S and S permits theelectric time display correction.

Describing the switching operation as mentioned above, the winding pinion is, as shown in FIG. 1, rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow A in response to the turning of the switching in a direction indicated by an arrow A at one selected position of the switching mechanism. In this case, the contact spring 6 undergoes a bending operation due to the engagement with the teeth 4a of the pawl wheel 4 and comes into contact pin 10. With the continuous rotation of the switching member in the same direction, the contact spring 6 is released away from the teeth 4a to return to the original state. At this time, the pawl wheel 5 formed integral with the winding pinion is rotated into the above mentioned direction. However, since the teeth 5a of the pawl wheel 5 and oppositely indented to the teeth 4a of the pawl wheel 4, the contact spring 7 is pressed against the stopper pin 9 so that it is disconnected from the contact pin 11. When, on the other hand, the switching member 1 is rotated in the direction opposite to the above-mentioned direction, the switch S is turned on while the switch S is'turned off. Therefore, either plus or minus time display correction can be effected by the selective operation of the switches S, and S Further, when the switching membet 1 is pulled out of the time correcting position another one step or two steps, the clutch wheel 2 is released from the engagement with the winding pinion 3 and comes into engagement with a setting wheel 12 for hands-setting or day and date correction.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a block diagram of an electronic circuit of the switching mechanism for the time display correcting device according to the present invention.

An electronic watch provided with the time display correcting device according to the present invention comprises a quartz oscillator 20 serving as a standard oscillator, a divider 21 receiving the signal from the oscillator 20 to derive therefrom a time signal, a time display driving circuit 22 receiving the output from the divider 21, and time display means 23. Between the divider 21 and the time display driving circuit 22 there is connected a time display correcting circuit comprising an S plus correcting gate circuit 24 with its control circuit 25 actuated by the switch S and an S minus correcting gate circuit 26 with its control circuit 27 actuated by the switch S When the watch is in regular operation, the switch S and S of the above-mentioned switching mechanism are normally opened with the S minus correcting gate circuit 26 turned on and with the S plus correcting circuit 24 turned off. Therefore, the output pulse from the divider 21 is applied to the time display driving circuit 22 through the S 'minus correcting gate circuit 26. When the switching member 1 is selectively rotated in the right or left direction in order to correct the time display by a constant amount of time, for instance, when the S minus correcting switch S is turned on, the S minus correcting gate control circuit 27 is operated so that the S minus correcting gate circuit 26 is turned off or closed, thereby preventing the output pulse from the divider 21 from passing through the time display driving circuit 22 without any supply of pulses thereto. In this way, the delay correction of the time display can be carried by a constant amount of time corresponding to a period of the pulse passing through the output 21a of the divider 21. On the other hand, when the S plus correcting switch S is operated to a closed position the S plus correcting gate control 25 is operated to derive from the S plus correcting gate circuit 24 the output signal which is in turn applied to an input terminal 26a of the time display driving circuit 22 in' combination with the regular pulse passing through the output terminal 21a of the divider 21 with the result of the advancement correction of the time display by the corresponding amount.

FIG. 5 shows a circuit diagram of the S minus correcting circuit block comprising the S minus correcting gate circuit 26, the S minus correcting control gate circuit 27 and the S minus correcting switch S FIG. 6 shows the operational time chart of the circuit block. The unit of time to be corrected is determined as one second in the present embodiment, and in FIG. 5 there is not provided a particular divider for further dividing the output from the divider 21. As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 21a is supplied with a clock pulse every second from the output of the divider 21. The one second signal applied to the terminal 21a is assumed having a (1) phase. The S minus correcting gate circuit 26 is usually enabled (turned on) so that the terminal 26a is supplied with the output signal from the terminal 21a. When, however, the S minus correcting switch S is turned on, a gate 6., is disabled at once so that the terminal 26a is supplied with no pulses for period of time corresponding to one pulse. The operation as mentioned above will be clearly and fully understood by referring to the time chart in FIG. 6. At first, when the S minus correcting switch S is turned on, flip-flop circuit F.F and F.F are set to 1, respectively. Further, from the divider 21 to the input terminal 30 of a gate G is supplied a signal ls-rr the phase of which is 1r out of phase with that of the signal applied to the terminal 26a. A flip-flop circuit F.F is set at the time when the output signal from the gate G is applied thereto. This causes the S minus correcting gate circuit 26 to be disabled,,thus preventing the passing of the pulse which appears at the terminal 21a in half a second and which is indicated by A in FIG. 6. In this way, the pulse applied to the time display driving circuit 22 shown in FIG. 4 is decreased by one pulse with the time display lost by one second.

Further, the pulse A is also applied to a gate G shown in FIG. 5 and then appears at the output thereof because of the set flip-flop circuit F.F The pulse A causes the flip-flop circuits F.F and FR, to be reset. It is to be noted that the flip-flop circuit RE, is of a J .K type and reset by the trailing edge of the pulse A as shown by an arrow B in FIG. 6.

Further more, the flip-flop circuit FF, is reset by the output from the gate 6,. The inputs to the gate G, are the output from the terminal Q of the flip-flop circuit F.F and a series of pulses C. A problem arises in that the operation of the S minus correcting switch S is not always terminated before the end of the time display correcting operation because the switch S is operated by a mechanical input produced by the winding crown in FIG. 2. In order to overcome the above-mentioned problem, the series of the resetting pulses are applied to the gate G to ensure that the flip-flop circuit F.F is preceisely reset by one of the reset pulses C however long the switching operation may be.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown another circuit diagram wherein a pulse applied to the terminal 21a of FIG. 7 has a phase 1r in constrast to the phase d) in FIG. 5. The S plus correcting gate circuit 24 is usuallydisabled (turned off) so that no signal appears at the output terminal 24a thereof.

When the S plus correcting Switch S is operated, the flip-flop RE, is reset by a lS-d) pulse applied to the input 32 of the gate G An ls-vr pulse appears at the gate circuit 24 through the terminal 21a in half a second therefrom. This pulse causes the time display to be advanced one second.

As mentioned above, the operation described in FIG. 5 is the same as that in FIG. 7 with the exception that the pulses applied to the terminal 21a are reverse in phase, that is 7T phaseand 4) phase, and that the on-off states of the gate G, are reverse each other in the normal state.

The time display drive circuit 22 of FIG. 4 may be arranged such that it includes therein some stages of the. divider for one case and it does not include them for another case when the time display mechanism comprises a stepping motor, gear train engageable therewith, indicating hands and a dial. For example, some stages of the divider are not incorporated to the block of the circuit 22 in driving the second hand because the correction of time by a unit of second is convenient for use. The-embodiment shown in FIG. 10 utilizes this concept as shown by'divider 45 after correcting circuit 33. The stages of the divider may, on the other hand,

be incorporated to the block of the circuit 22 in driving only the hour and minute hands because the correction of the time by a unit of one-nth (n being an integer) of one minute, for example, by a unit of 30 or seconds is convenient'for use.

Further, the signal derived from the divider for driving or controlling the time display correcting circuit is not limited to one kind of signal.

In view of the nature of the divider usually comprised of the flip-flops, the signal derived from one of the states of the divider has aperiod one-nth (n: integer) as great as an interval of time on the final time display so that the unit of time to be corrected is preferably selected to one-nth the interval of time on the final time display. The use of the signal derived from some stage of the divider permits the simplified arrangement of the correcting device and reduced manufacturing cost by driving or controlling the time display correcting circuit. For users who want to correct the time display, it is preferable and comprehensible to select the unit of time to be corrected to be n times or one-nth the unit of the time display with the result of a greatly enhanced value of the device. These facts constitute one of the advantages of the present invention.

Moreover, the divider 21, the time display correcting circuit block, and the following divider 22 or time display driving circuit are usually realized in integrated form so that the present invention will be easily embodied in a limited space such as a watch.

Referring to FIG. 9, there is shown another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 shows an external appearance of a digital display watch. A change-over switch S serves to alter the function of switches-4 and 5 in the time display correcting mechanism, and it may be called a functional switch. The outline of its function is as follows. When the push button S is pushed in the operational state of a watch movement, two kinds of capital letters I-IOUR and MIN are first displayed. This means that the switches S and 8,, are operated to correct the time display of minute and hour, respectively. In this state, the pushing of the switch S, causes the digits of the hour (two left digits) to be corrected and the pushing of the switch S causes the digits of the minute (two right digits) to be corrected. Then, the further pushing of the switch S causes the display HOUR MIN to disappear and the display I +1 to appear instead thereof. This means that the operation of the switches S and S permits the correction of the time display by a unit of time of l and by a unit of time of +1, respectively. For example, one pushing operation of the switch S, causes the time display to be one second late and the pushing operation of the switch button 8,, causes the time display to be one second advanced. It is to be noted, in this case, that the unit of time is selected to be one second but may be optimally selected to be greater, for example, ten seconds, to facilitate the correction of the time display at a rapid rate. The still further pushing operation of the switch button 8;, causes the displays 1 and +1 as well as the letter displays HOUR" and MIN to disappear out of the display panel, on which there remains only hour and minute displays. The watch is operated without being affected by any fuction of the switches S, and S In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the subject matter of the present invention is realized in that there are provided the operational switches S, and S for operating the time display correcting device and the switch S for changing the function of the switches S, and S and that the switches S and S have the function of changing the display by a predetermined amount of time each time of the operation.

In such a crystal oscillator as shown in FIG. 9 in which the high accurate oscillator serves as a standard time signal oscillator, the time to be corrected due to the errors of the standard oscillator is of such an order of less than 1 minute, so that the present invention can correct the time display to ones satisfaction, permitting the presence of the convenient timepiece.

The arrangement of the electronic circuit for the watch as shown in FIG. 9 will be described. The circuit portions intended to correct the time by the predetermined unit of time are the same as those described in connection with FIGS. 4 to 8, and the remaining portions are shown in FIG. 10.

In FIG. 10, the switch S operates a time display correction controller 38 to change over the output of the switch S, from lines 34 to 36 and the output of the switch S from lines to 37. These operations are displayed through a line 41 on a display panel 42 on which the indications HOUR, MIN, -l or +1 are provided.

FIG. 11 shows the circuit 38 of FIG. 10 in detail. The switches S, and S have three kinds of functions, so that in FIG. 11 there is connected a ternary counter 50 operated bythe operation of the switch S and having three outputs only either one of which is a logic 1 and the others are logic 0." If the logic 1 appears a on a line 48, the switches S and S are connected to the line 34 and 35 to operate a circuit 33 for correcting the time display by the predetermined unit of time, thereby advancing or delaying the time display by that interval of time through drivers 46 and 47 to display the corrected time on a minute display 43 and an hour display 44, respectively. It is to be noted that if the clock pulse appearing on the line 21a is at the rate of one pulse per second, the unit of time to be corrected is I second, and if it is at the rate of one pulse per minute, the unit of time is 1 minute. The provision of a divider 45 further permits the correction of any amount of time convenient for the watch. If, on the other hand, the logic 1 appears on a line 47 in response to the operation of the switch S;,, the minute and hour displays 43 and 44 themselves are changed or corrected at a rapid rate. The circuit 33 and the switches S, and S are the same as those shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. The switches S, and S correspond to the switch S of FIG. 5 and the switch S, of FIG. 7, respectively.

As mentioned above, the present invention effects the correction of the time display by the unit of time of less than one minute by switching the time display correcting device, and therefore provides the very attractive and practical crystal wristwatch.

Further, another embodiment according to the present invention has been proposed in which only the S plus correction, i.e., only the display advancing correction is effected to dispense with the contact for the S minus correcting switch S with the result of the reduced number of switches and enhanced reliability of the wristwatch. As mentioned above, the conventional Wristwatches must once stop the movement to correct the delayed time display. The inconvenience can be removed by the use of the S plus correction. Alternatively,aresetting switch serving also as main switch is provided for delay correction without correcting the time display by the predetermined unit of time. In this case, the system can be considered as the combined digital and analog correction system.

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic watch with a time display correcting device for use in correcting the time display thereof, comprising an oscillator producing a-signal of relatively high frequency, a divider receptive of the signal from said oscillator for generating a time signal pulse train, means receptive of the time signal pulse train from said divider for effecting a time display, means for correcting the time display selectively switchable into an advancing and a delaying mode comprising means for developing and superposing an additional pulse onto said time signal pulse train during a predetermined interval of time when the correcting means is in the time display correction advancing mode and for inhibiting a pulse from said time pulse train during said predetermined interval of time when said correcting means is in the time display correction delaying mode whereby the time display is advanced or delayed by said predetermined interval of time to effect the time display correction, and switching means for selectively switching said correcting means into one of said advancing and delaying modes.

2. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said correcting means comprises determining means determining said predetermined interval of time so that it is n times one minute where n is a positive integer.

3. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said correcting means comprises determining means determining said predetermined interval of time so that it is n times one second where n is a positive integer.

4. An electronic watch according to claim 3, wherein determining means includes means to control said positive integer so that it ranges from 1. to 10.

5. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said switching means comprises a switching member rotatably mounted and slidably displaced along its rotational axis into a plurality of positions in a step manner, first contact means actuated when said switching member is rotated in one direction in one of said positions thereof so as to effect said time display correction advancing mode and second contact means actuated when said switching member is rotated in the other direction in same position so as to effect said time display reducing correction mode. 

1. An electronic watch with a time display correcting device for use in correcting the time display thereof, comprising an oscillator producing a signal of relatively high frequency, a divider receptive of the signal from said oscillator for generating a time signal pulse train, means receptive of the time signal pulse train from said divider for effecting a time display, means for correcting the time display selectively switchable into an advancing and a delaying mode comprising means for developing and superposing an additional pulse onto said time signal pulse train during a predetermined interval of time when the correcting means is in the time display correction advancing mode and for inhibiting a pulse from said time pulse train during said predetermined interval of time when said correcting means is in the time display correction delaying mode whereby the time display is advanced or delayed by said predetermined interval of time to effect the time display correction, and switChing means for selectively switching said correcting means into one of said advancing and delaying modes.
 2. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said correcting means comprises determining means determining said predetermined interval of time so that it is n times one minute where n is a positive integer.
 3. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said correcting means comprises determining means determining said predetermined interval of time so that it is n times one second where n is a positive integer.
 4. An electronic watch according to claim 3, wherein determining means includes means to control said positive integer so that it ranges from 1 to
 10. 5. An electronic watch according to claim 1, wherein said switching means comprises a switching member rotatably mounted and slidably displaced along its rotational axis into a plurality of positions in a step manner, first contact means actuated when said switching member is rotated in one direction in one of said positions thereof so as to effect said time display correction advancing mode and second contact means actuated when said switching member is rotated in the other direction in same position so as to effect said time display reducing correction mode. 